The Indian cricket team has experienced a sudden influx of injuries over the past 24 months. Before important games and even multi-nation tournaments like the World Cup and Asia Cup, team combinations have been negatively impacted by untimely breakdowns involving everyone from fast bowlers to specialist batters to all-rounders.
In an interview with News18 Cricketnext, former India strength and conditioning coach Ramji Srinivasan discussed injury concerns and workload management for the current players. The injuries to Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya have caused India the most harm in the past 12 to 18 months. Bumrah missed the 20-22 World Cup in 2022 but is now back in the lineup ahead of the crucial two years for the Indian cricket team, which include two World Cups and the crucial home Tests vs. Australia. Hardik is back to full fitness and has been on a tear.
Every person is unique, according to Ramji, and they should approach their bodies and fitness in various ways. Individualization is essential because not all players can fit into the same mould.
“Individuals are different. You can’t have one template for all the players. Every player needs a different template. If you are going to follow the same template, they will break down in the warm-up match itself. That’s why communication is very important. Athlete knowing their body is very important. That’s why programs, right from practice sessions, need to be individualised. You can’t generalise. Times have changed you can’t apply the same principles which you applied 10-15 years back. Lifestyles have changed, mindsets have changed. Lot of things have changed because of lifestyle modifications. You have to adapt and adopt protocols according to need of the hour,” says Ramji, who served as Strength and Conditioning Coach of Team India during the 2011 World Cup.
It is very much doable: Ramji Srinivasan
Ramji believes playing all three formats is very much doable provided an individual understands his body and has a workout, recovery, and nutrition programme in sync with that. Ramji worked with a pool of players who played almost everything, including all three formats and the Indian T20 League, and travelled for about 300 days a year.
“It is very much doable. What has changed now is the mindset has changed. A lot of things have also changed for the positive now. That time we never had so many support staff. We had a physio, a trainer, one massage therapist and two coaches. So no more than 6-7. Now we have 20 people. And there are fantastic facilities wherever you go. There are lot of pros than cons. BCCI will give you the best of the best. When you ask for the best, they give you the best. They don’t cringe on anything. Nobody can blame BCCI for anything. They want the players to get best of the best. It’s how the support staff uses that for the benefit of the players and the country is of utmost importance.
All players played all three formats then. Except Sachin who didn’t play T20s. But rest played IPL, ODIs, T20Is and also the Tests and also travelled 300 days a year. There is a missing link which we now need to find because all those players back in 2011 were in 30s during the World Cup and we can be very proud of the fact that none of the players got injuries because of fitness. It’s important to keep it simple and never complicate with too many jargons or information. DEXA and yo-yo are just a tool and there are many missing links which we need to find to address this tsunami of injuries,” says Ramji.
From Virat Kohli to Suresh Raina everybody used to grill me: Former Indian Strength and Conditioning coach
Ramji believes that communication between players and fitness coaches must always take place and that fitness cannot be a one-way street. He remembered how during his time with the Indian cricket team, players like Sachin, Gambhir, and Sehwag would constantly “grill” him on fitness and question him throughout every practise. Ramji arguds that while fitness must be tailored to the individual, there must also be teamwork and an emphasis on the big picture.
“Not ask me, they used to grill me because everyone wants to play for the country and it’s my duty to explain what everyday goals are. It started when I joined in 2009. From Virat Kohli to Suresh Raina everybody used to grill me. From Sachin to Gauti to Dhoni to Viru, everybody. It’s my duty to explain to them and if I don’t know, I don’t know. We need to understand that cricket is a team game, not individual game. So synergy has to be there and mindset has to be common at least. It’s not going to be one player I am going to make fit. Synergy has to be among all players so that they embark on the journey and one compliments the other. So that is true fitness for a team,” says Ramji.
